We Sailed In Perfect Calmness

As you probably know, prayer is a great priority in my life. God wakes me at 4 a.m. to pray and sometimes at 3 a.m. When this first began, I had a great struggle to stay awake. I would go into the living room, set down in my easy chair, began to pray and fall asleep. If something is of great value, then you must fight for it. So, morning after morning I would fight. Sometimes I would win the battle and sometimes I would lose it.

After several months of this conflict, I would no longer fall asleep. Now usually, the first hour is filled with prayer. Then the Holy Spirit will lead me to read something or write something. Most of the articles I post are written before 6 a.m. After an hour or so of prayer, usually the words just pour out when I sit down to write.

When God awakens me, am I tempted to go back to bed? No, not really. These times are so sweet that they are by far the best few hours of my day. If I were to miss them, I would feel like a train off the tracks or a car with an empty gas tank for the entire day. I would really feel quite useless.

Do I get tired later on in the day from having arisen so early? Sometimes no and sometimes yes. If I need to, I may take a nap late in the afternoon, an hour or so . . . no big deal.

What are the rewards of rising early in the morning? They are immeasurable. In my earlier life, I was a sleepy head. When I was young I loved to sleep in, in the morning. I was a night owl. Now, that has completely flipped. I am now definitely a morning person. The first few hours of the day are by far my most productive.

For many years, I have performed a song called The Secret. When I speak in churches I always perform a song before I speak. Often people will come up to me afterward and ask, “Where did you find that song? I have never heard it before.”

I found it on a “Lydell” album. Lydell was a gospel singer in Minneapolis who put out one album and then seemed to fade into obscurity. The Secret was on that album followed by “author unknown.” I later learned that the words were written by Bishop Ralph Cushman, in the late eighteenth or early nineteenth century, but the author of the music is unknown.

I met God in the morning

When the day was at its best

And His presence came like sunrise

Like a glory in my breast

All day long His presence lingered

All day long He stayed by me

And we sailed in perfect calmness

On a very troubled sea

Other ships were blown and battered

Other ships were sore distressed

But the winds that seemed to drive them

Brought to us a peace and rest

Then I thought of all the mornings

With a keen remorse of mind

When I too had loosed the moorings

With His presence left behind

Now, I think I know The Secret

Learned from many a troubled way

You must seek God in the morning

If you really want Him through the day

I met God in the morning

When the day was at its best

And HIs presence came like sunrise

Like a glory within my breast

You must seek God in the morning

If you really want him through the day

The experience the writer describes is free. God offers it to anyone who wants it. You must want it badly, however, if you are going to attain it.

You must, first of all, want it more than sleep. If you get past that roadblock, then you must put aside all distractions, of which there may be many. You must apply yourself, put yourself into it without reservation. It may take you months or years to establish the habit, but the habit will transform your life.

Why do I talk so much about prayer and spending time with God? Because it is the heart and soul of the Christian life. If your life is absent of a hunger for God, then you may be just going through the motions, having a form of godliness but denying the power, or the heart and soul of the Christian life. You may be like one hanging around in the yard, but never going into the house.

I hope I have awakened a hunger in your life. If I have, then you are one step ahead in your Christian walk.

Photo taken by Dyanna Schultze